Taiwanese mobile manufacturer High Tech Computer (HTC) has scooped India with its’ range of smart phones since 2008. HTC bandwagon in India boasts of 5 android phones and new launches are soon to be announced. The specifications and cost price of the ‘quintet’ are as follows:

HTC Dream (G1) Android

The first Android platform-powered phone, known as Google phone was launched in December 2008 on Univercell website (a renowned mobile phone retailer in South India). Priced at 25,000 INR, the phone features touch-screen, slide-out QWERTY keypad, 3G and 3Mega Pixel camera with Google’s popular tools like Gmail, Gtalk and Google find.

Product Specification:

OS : Android

Display : TFT touch-screen , 65K colors, 320 x 480 pixels , 3.2 inches

Camera : 3 Mega Pixel

Battery : Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery.

Connectivity : Bluetooth 2.0 with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g 3G -HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps aGPS GPRS EDGE

Other Features:

Full QWERTY keyboard, Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, miniUSB and Google applications – Gmail, Gtalk and Google find.

HTC Touch Diamond Android 0.8

Launched in 2008, HTC Touch Diamond, which runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and now is Android 0.8 enabled, promises, animated access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather, and more. The device comes with a 2.8-inches VGA touch screen. It comes loaded with Google tools and a new customized mobile Web browser for easy viewing and effortless navigation of Web sites. Users can zoom and pan Web sites and view content made to fit the display. Turn the device sideways, and the Web page automatically rotates from a portrait to landscape view. Available through Airtel for 27,500 INR.

Product Specification:

Processor : Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz

OS : Windows Mobile 6.1 , Android 0.8

Memory : 192 MB RAM along with 256MB ROM and Internal storage of 4GB

Camera : 3.2 Mega Pixel (auto-focus)

Battery : Rechargeable 900 mAH

Talk time: Up to 400 hours

Standby time: Up to 300 hours

Dimension: 102 X 51 X 11.33mm and weighs 110gms with the battery.

Bandwidth: WCDMA/HSPA 900/2100MHz, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and WiFi specifications of IEEE 802.11 b/g.

Other Features:

3D touch interface called “TouchFLO 3D”, integrated GPS for turn-by-turn satellite navigation

HTC Magic Android (G2)

Airtel announced the first touch-screen android phone in India with the launch of HTC Magic in June 2009. Powered by Android™, it provides the Google suite of services – Gmail, Search, YouTube and Maps. Further enhanced with Outlook® synchronization, Smart Dialer, and an onscreen keyboard with predictive text, the HTC Magic is a true entertainment and communication powerhouse. Priced at 30,000 INR, which is far much higher than its’ price in the US ($175). However, it’s an unlocked phone, which means that SIMS of other service providers like Vodafone, BSNL, and Reliance can be used.

Product Specification:

Processor : Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz

OS : Android

Memory : 512 MB along with 288MB RAM

Camera : 3.2 Mega Pixel

Battery : Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery.

Talk time: Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA, Up to 450 minutes for GSM

Standby time: Up to 660 hours for WCDMA, Up to 420 hours for GSM

Dimension: 13 x 55.56 x 13.65 mm (4.45 x 2.19 x 0.54 inches), Weighs 116gms with battery.

Colours Available: Black, Brown and White

Features Supported:

All Google applications – Gmail, Search, YouTube, Maps.

Smart Dialer – an on-screen keyboard that allows calls to be made by either dialing the phone number or the first few letters of a person’s name.

Multiple mailbox support and Microsoft® Exchange Server synchronization for email, calendar and contact

HTC Hero Android (G2)

HTC Hero is the second android smart phone launched in India. It works on the technology of HTC Sense™ – an intuitive, seamless experience built upon the principles of make it mine, stay close and discover the unexpected. Powered by Android™, the first android phone with Adobe Flash player that will facilitate mobile web browsing and provide easy access to Flash-based multimedia content. It provides special features like G-sensor and digital Compass. A 3.2-inch touch-screen interface with a 320X480 screen with HVGA is priced at 31,990 INR.

For Airtel subscribers free data download of 100 MB (monthly) for six months, and access to utility-based applications, such as Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-mobile search and City Search.

Product Specification :

Processor : Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz

OS : Android

Memory : 512 MB RAM along with 288MB ROM

Camera : 5 Mega Pixel (auto-focus)

Battery : Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery.

Talk time: Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA, Up to 470 minutes for GSM

Standby time: Up to 750 hours for WCDMA, Up to 440 hours for GSM

Dimension: 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm (4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches) and weighs 135gms with the battery.

Bandwidth: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 850/900/1800/1900 MHz., with 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link
speeds

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets and WiFi specifications
of IEEE 802.11 b/g.

Supported Audio Formats: MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media “Audio 9 audio”
Supported Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media Video 9
Other Features:

Trackball, built-in GPS antenna, gravity-sensor, digital compass, accelerometer and expandable MicroSD memory

HTC Tattoo Android

One of the cheapest android phones introduced by Vodafone with fully customizable covers with HTC sense user interface and priced at 16,990 INR. For Vodafone customers 20 MB free data download for 3 months post purchase. A TFT-LCD display with 240X320 resolution in QVGA, and 3.2 inch touch-screen interface with a 320 X480 screen with HVGA.

HTC Tattoo has an HTML web browser, Stereo FM, music player, SMS, Email, Instant messaging messaging, Google applications and Assisted GPS. The Tattoo comes with social networking oriented applications including an inbuilt Twitter client.

Product Specification:

Processor : Qualcomm MSM7225 528MHz

OS : Android

Memory : 256MB RAM WITH 512 ROM

Camera : 3 Mega Pixel (auto-focus)

Battery : Rechargeable 1100 mAh

Talk time: Up to 342 minutes for WCDMA; Up to 390 minutes for GSM;

Standby time: Up to 520 hours for WCDMA; Up to 340 hours for GSM.

Dimension: 106 mm long x 55.2 wide and 14 mm thick. (4.17 x 2.17 x 0.55 inches) and weighs 113gms with the battery.

Bandwidth: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets and WiFi specifications
of IEEE 802.11 b/g. GPS chip with built-in GPS antenna

Supported Audio Formats: MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media Audio 9 formats.
Supported Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9

Expandable 2.0 micro SD memory card with mini USB support

Other Features:

HTML web browser, SMS, Email, Instant messaging messaging, Google applications and Assisted GPS and Twitter.

Both HTC Passion Android and HTC Espresso (Keyboard) Android are anticipated for a launch in 2010.